In wash cycles for fabric loads, such as for washing clothes in a clothes washer, it is known to use many different detergents and additives to provide various cleaning actions, such as removal of various stains. Even with the numerous detergents and additives available in the market, stain removal is still one of the biggest unmet consumer needs. According to various surveys, consumer dissatisfaction with cleaning performance still ranks high. This dissatisfaction, coupled with recent trends of moving to lower temperatures and lower water volumes during washing cycles only increases the importance of stain removal and cleaning performance.
Various stain removers, such as oxidizing agents, are known and used in wash cycles. However, such oxidizing agents need to be introduced to the wash zone of the washer at specific times relative to the introduction of particular detergents, depending on the individual stains being treated. In some wash cycles, a concentrated detergent solution is applied to the fabric load to increase a cleaning action. However, even this concentrated detergent solution is unable to remove certain types of stains.
The introduction of an oxidizing agent to the wash liquor too early in the wash cycle could defeat the cleaning action or stain removal of some detergents, particularly those that rely on enzyme action to remove protein stains, such as grass stains. Adding an oxidizing agent to a concentrated detergent solution may dilute the concentrated solution too much, or may prevent proper operation of the oxidizing agent. The introduction of an oxidizing agent to the wash liquor too late in the wash cycle could prevent the fabric load from having sufficient contact time with the oxidizing agent to remove certain other stains and provide a complete cleaning action.
It would be an improvement in the art if there were provided a wash cycle utilizing different wash liquors at different times, one of which is an oxidizing agent wash liquor, to enhance the cleaning action and stain removal processes of the washer.